Casey Wagner

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Eric Adams is pulling a Donald Trump. Or he’s trying to, at least. That was my takeaway from the inaugural NYC Crypto Summit at Gracie Mansion last week.&nbsp;



Adams — New York’s controversial, no-longer-federally-indicted mayor — hasn’t talked about crypto much since taking office in 2022.



Adams promised on the campaign trail to take his first three paychecks in bitcoin. When the city’s Treasury department <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/041-22/mayor-adams-receive-first-paycheck-cryptocurrency">couldn’t make this happen</a>, he opted to buy BTC and ETH himself on payday.



For the last several years, the War on Rats has been the Adams administration’s main focus. But last month, city officials announced the Crypto Summit — a press conference followed by private roundtable discussions with industry executives and city officials.&nbsp;



The purpose, Adams said, was to come up with new ways the city can leverage crypto and blockchain technology to create jobs, improve operations and expand access to financial services. The event was complete with speeches from Tether co-founder Brock Pierce and Bitcoin Center creator Nick Spanos. There was also an open bar starting at 2 pm.&nbsp;



Spanos (and most of the people at the roundtable, I’m told) is primarily interested in <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/comptroller-audits-nydfs-bitlicense">abolishing the BitLicense</a>, the Department of Financial Services-issued business license digital asset companies need to operate in the state. The fact that the mayor of New York City does not have the authority to nix the BitLicense was not mentioned.&nbsp;



After a couple hours of roundtable discussion, the party moved outside. Hundreds of guests donning attire falling somewhere between “boardroom and ballroom,” per an attendee I spoke with, gathered under a tent in Gracie Mansion’s backyard for a post-summit reception. Several other attendees told me they only came to get a look inside the famous house.&nbsp;



It doesn’t take an experienced political strategist to gather that Adams is probably looking for money. His first words to the crowd on Tuesday were literally “I smell money.”&nbsp;



He’s running for re-election — this time as an independent — and his competition already has amassed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/05/06/nyregion/nyc-mayor-funding-neighborhood-donations.html">big budgets</a>. We all saw what crypto industry donations did for Trump’s campaign. I imagine Adams has been taking notes.&nbsp;



That doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t or can’t see New York crypto policy evolve, and who knows what the new advisory council will come up with. But for now, I’m not holding my breath.



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BitLicense

Eric Adams crypto summit features all-day open bar and BitLicense criticism

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who converted paychecks to crypto and angled the city as an industry hotspot, erred on a disclosure because he thought bitcoin wasn’t a security, his team said.  



Adams made an error on a mandatory report filed with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, his team said Thursday.&nbsp;



In his 2022 financial disclosure <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/assets/coib/downloads/pdf2/publicdocs/elected-officials-ad/2022/adams-e-2022-ad-report.pdf">report</a>, Adams answered “no” when asked if he held “any security (such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds or cryptocurrencies) with a market value of $1,000 or more” at the end of 2022. <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-adams-to-amend-disclosure-after-failing-report-crypto-holdings-20230713-3ggmk5rpdzcyjjj63ahjmxzehe-story.html">Asked</a> about the lack of disclosure around his bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) and ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>) holdings, Adams’ team said he would be amending the disclosure.&nbsp;



Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy told The New York Daily News Thursday Adams failed to report his crypto holdings because he thought only securities were included in the question, not currencies. <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a> Chair Gary Gensler has said bitcoin is not a security.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/the-sec-says-these-crypto-assets-are-securities-their-reasoning-is-wrong">The SEC says these crypto assets are securities, but their reasoning is wrong</a>



Adams took office in 2022 and <a href="https://twitter.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/1456311827550384129?s=20">said</a> he would “take” his first three paychecks in bitcoin. In reality, the mayor converted his post-tax pay into crypto on Coinbase, he said. The move was part of the mayor’s broader plan to establish the city as a crypto hub.&nbsp;



“NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait!,” Adams said on <a href="https://twitter.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/1456311827550384129?s=20">Twitter</a> after winning the election.&nbsp;



Presidential candidate Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, also known as a crypto proponent, indicated in his year-end 2022 financial disclosures that his crypto holdings were worth around $70,000. Suarez has said that he converts his $130,000 annual salary into crypto via Stripe.&nbsp;



Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would be accepting campaign donations in bitcoin. Financial disclosures from Kennedy reveal the candidate held between $100,001 and $250,000 of bitcoin through the second quarter.



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NYC Mayor Adams deems bitcoin not a security in disclosure mishap

<div id="highlights-block_61e998fc9a514" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Eric Adams is keeping his promise and will get paid in cryptocurrency on Friday</li>
 <li>The funds will be converted to BTC and ETH through Coinbase before Adams’ can access them</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



New York City Mayor Eric Adams made good on <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/new-york-mayor-eric-adams-i-will-take-first-three-paychecks-in-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">his promise</a> to receive his first paychecks in cryptocurrency, the Office of the Mayor said Thursday.&nbsp;



Adams’ first paycheck, which arrives Friday, will be converted into bitcoin and ether through Coinbase before the funds are made available, according to the <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/041-22/mayor-adams-receive-first-paycheck-cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>.&nbsp;



“New York is the center of the world, and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations,” Adams said in the statement.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Being on the forefront of such innovation will help us create jobs, improve our economy, and continue to be a magnet for talent from all over the globe.”</blockquote>



Adams had originally said via <a href="https://twitter.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/1456311827550384129?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a> that he would receive his first three paychecks in bitcoin exclusively. Thursday’s statement clarifies that some of his compensation will also be delivered in ether, but the breakdown between the two was not disclosed.&nbsp;



Creating a crypto-friendly city has been a central part of Adams’ platform. In November, he approved the launch of the NYCCoin, a token created by the CityCoin project. NYCCoin, currently available to trade on OKCoin, is mined by forwarding the Stacks token, $STX, to the NYCCoin smart contract. When tokens are successfully mined, a percentage of $STX forwarded by miners to the Stacks protocol goes into a wallet reserved for NYC.&nbsp;



Coinbase’s paycheck feature was <a href="about:blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unveiled</a> in September. The exchange now allows users to have paychecks directly deposited into their exchange accounts.







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Bitcoin

NYC Mayor Receives First Paycheck in Converted ETH, BTC

<div id="highlights-block_618e449496d75" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>NYCCoin began mining Wednesday and is expected to start trading soon</li>
 <li>Mayor-elect Adams is excited about the opportunities crypto presents for New York</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Thanks to New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams, the ‘NYCCoin’ token will become community-led project CityCoins’ second launch.&nbsp;



The announcement comes after CityCoins’ first project, MiamiCoin, brought in $21.3 million dollars for the South Florida city since it <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/miami-has-earned-5-million-and-counting-in-miamicoin-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">began trading</a> in August. 



Anyone can transfer Stacks (STX) tokens to mine MiamiCoin, and a percentage is placed in Miami’s cryptocurrency wallet. MiamiCoin is available to trade on crypto exchange OKCoin.&nbsp;



“Miami has been an incredible success,” said Patrick Stanley, a CityCoins community lead. “The citizens of Miami have benefited to the tune of $21 million so far, and that&#8217;s only going to grow, it&#8217;s going to grow forever. The amount of money in Stacks that’s contributed never goes backwards and never stops, never stalls, it just keeps going up.”



Adams has quickly become known as a crypto-friendly mayor. He called bitcoin a “new way of paying for goods and services throughout the entire globe” during a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/08/bitcoin-in-new-york-eric-adams-says-crypto-should-be-taught-in-school.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNN interview</a> Monday, and has said that schools “must&#8221; teach about blockchain technology.



NYCCoin mining began on Wednesday, according to the CityCoins. Adams welcomed the project on Twitter, saying “we&#8217;re counting on tech and innovation to help drive our city forward.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">We&#39;re glad to welcome you to the global home of Web3! We&#39;re counting on tech and innovation to help drive our city forward. <a href="https://t.co/SY9pv1Ebct">https://t.co/SY9pv1Ebct</a>&mdash; Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) <a href="https://twitter.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/1457803063666745346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Miami officials voted to approve access to the funds, held in a crypto wallet, in September. On  Thursday, Miami mayor Francis Suarez told <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/11/11/miami-to-give-bitcoin-yield-from-miamicoin-to-its-citizens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinDesk TV</a> that the city will soon be distributing “bitcoin yield” to citizens, earned from staking MiamiCoin. 



“We’re going to be the first city in America to give a bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents,” Suarez said during the interview.&nbsp;



Adams has not yet commented how NYCCoin funds may be used, but he did follow Suarez’s lead and stated that he would be accepting his first three paychecks in bitcoin. The two leaders <a href="https://twitter.com/FrancisSuarez/status/1456316140284678149?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expressed on Twitter</a> their desire to make their respective cities into “crypto capitals.” 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-12-Suarez-shutterstock_1749213761.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11048" width="220" height="282" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-12-Suarez-shutterstock_1749213761.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-12-Suarez-shutterstock_1749213761.png?w=234 234w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-12-Suarez-shutterstock_1749213761.png?w=200 200w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-12-Suarez-shutterstock_1749213761.png?w=203 203w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-12-Suarez-shutterstock_1749213761.png?w=171 171w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-11-12-Suarez-shutterstock_1749213761.png?w=62 62w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px" /><figcaption>Miami Mayor Francis Suarez</figcaption></figure></div>



“Having a leader like Mayor Suarez,” said Stanley, “who is not Republican, he&#8217;s not Democrat, he just wants to move forward, and same with Eric Adams&#8230;They&#8217;re like the perfect archetypes for leadership in the crypto era, and they&#8217;re going to accelerate and modernize their city as a function of just having the CityCoins.”&nbsp;



Suarez is in fact a registered Republican, although the mayor’s office in Miami is officially nonpartisan. Adams is a Democrat.&nbsp;



The CityCoins project is not the first to try a community token model. The Colu DLT platform shut down its blockchain-based Colu Local Network (CLN) token following <a href="https://icobench.com/ico/colu-local-network" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a 2018 ICO</a> that raised $23 million in ether. CLN was used for retail purchases and encouraged consumers to shop locally with incentives. 



The token launched in four cities, including London and Tel Aviv, but Colu later cited regulatory and technical challenges as the reason for ending the project. The company <a href="https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2019/08/151028-colu-gives-ico-money-back-apparently-companies-can-do-the-right-thing-also-without-a-regulator-telling-them-what-to-do/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">repurchased and burned</a> all tokens in 2019. 



CityCoins is currently working on AustinCoin, according to its website. “Mining is coming soon,” the page states. In late September, the site listed SanFranciscoCoin as “coming soon,” although it has since been removed and no additional information has been released about the project.



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Eric Adams

New York Mayor-Elect Gives City Token Seal of Approval

Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_61842b381c022" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>While New York is synonymous with being the headquarters of TradFi, it has some competition in the era of digital assets</li>
 <li>To show how serious he is about attracting blockchain and crypto companies to New York, newly elected mayor Eric Adams pledged to take his first three paychecks in bitcoin </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Newly elected New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that he will take his first three paychecks in bitcoin. Adams thought he was going one step further than Miami Mayor Francisco Suarez who <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/11/03/miami-mayor-francis-suarez-to-take-next-paycheck-in-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> Tuesday that he would take only his next paycheck in bitcoin.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">In New York we always go big, so I’m going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor. NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait!&mdash; Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) <a href="https://twitter.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/1456311827550384129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



But just hours after Adams made his announcement, Mayor Suarez <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/miami-mayor-francis-suarez-says-he-will-accept-entire-salary-in-bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> Fox News that he would take his entire paycheck in bitcoin.



Both mayors were responding to a call from podcaster and investor at Morgan Creek Capital Management, Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano who challenged politicians across the country to take their paychecks in bitcoin.



Suarez has been touting the pro-bitcoin party line since <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/miami-passes-resolution-allow-paying-city-workers-bitcoin-attempt-woo-big-tech-1568784" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">February</a> when he announced plans to pay city workers in the number-one cryptocurrency. He also plans to allow city residents to pay city fees and even their taxes in bitcoin if the city council agrees to his plan.



Miami was the home of the Bitcoin 2021 event, and the first city in the US to have its own <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/miami-has-earned-5-million-and-counting-in-miamicoin-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CityCoin</a>, It’s also home to the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-inks-135m-sponsorship-deal-for-miami-heat-arena/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FTX Arena</a>, which inked a 19-year deal in March to take over naming rights of National Basketball Association team Miami Heat’s stadium, formerly known as American Airlines Arena.



For his part, Adams has pledged to make New York more friendly to businesses, specifically startups, some of which moved away from the city citing high costs as Covid-19 normalized remote work.



“We’re too bureaucratic, too expensive, and too difficult to do business,” Adams said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Our agencies — they go into businesses and are looking for ways to penalize or fine them. We’re changing that atmosphere altogether.”&nbsp;



But up against Adams’ quest to make New York, the city, more crypto-friendly, is New York, the state, which has taken a hard line in regulating the industry.&nbsp;



Recently, New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered an end to crypto lending protocols in the state, sending requests for information to Nexo and Celsius. The state’s BitLicense framework, once heralded as the first comprehensive money transmitter license for crypto companies, has been criticized as <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/10/19/kill-the-bitlicense/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">archaic and restrictive </a>and incompatible with the DeFi era.



Prior to winning New York’s mayoral election, Adams’ was the borough president of Brooklyn which has seen a 356% increase in tech startups call the area home, including Blockworks, over the last decade.



This story was updated on November 4, 2021, at 7:31 pm ET.